A few weeks ago I moved and arranged with Time Warner to move my cable. Just like when it happened to you, Time Warner Cable didn’t show up (twice) to our appointment. Their monolithic apathy to their inability to do what they say they will was frustrating, so I thought I’d make fun of them by writing a letter expressing my feelings and taking out full page ads in a few New York news papers running the letter.

You can see the ad on page 5 in this week’s Summer Guide issue of New York Press.

One of the most fun things I get to do is be part of John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders. The show features different musicians, writers (even poets!) and often me. I think cover of Kevin Ayers’ Religious Experience conveys the fun we had last week (featuring John Wesley Harding, Andrew Bird, Tift Merrit, Josh Ritter, Jonathan Coe, David Wax Museum, Robert Lloyd, The English UK, and me on the theremin — which I can both play and not play, as you will see).

I admired Mike DeStefano so much. He was the realization of what the ideal standup comedian could become as well as a testament to the American Dream and will power. I’d only met and hung out with him a handful of times. He’d just started doing my show at Union Hall this last fall. He was amazing. He killed with the darkest and most heartfelt comedy I’d seen in quite some time if not ever. He joked and shared about his wife dying of AIDS, his difficult childhood, about heroin addiction, being a counselor and mentor to addicts, and giving talks on drugs and HIV. He recounted the time (while giving a talk) someone asked him (I think it was a teacher at a high school) if you could get AIDS from a doorknob, and he explained, quite rightly, only if it was covered in blood and you fucked it. And even then the air would probably have killed the HIV virus. It was simply one of the funniest and most touching standup performances I’d seen. For weeks to come I kept telling people about the amazing performance Mike did. Mike emailed me Saturday to see if he could do my show March 6th to practice for his one-man show. I said of course. Then, because of rain and a meeting, he asked if it’d be okay to cancel. He said he could be there if I really needed him to, but that it’d be inconvenient. I said no problem, another time. I will miss you very much Mike. You were a very kind and very funny man. Goodbye, RIP.

Below is a clip of Mike telling a beautiful story about his wife, Franny. Watch it, pass it on:

I made a video to help out The Thrive Project, a wonderful non-profit in western Mass that helps “young adults pursue happiness.” The Thrive Project is an educational/community/cultural/career space that does everything from teaching, tutoring, putting on performances/ salons/ art shows to organizing field trips and all sorts of great community support stuff. It’s based in Turners Falls, MA. Here’s the video I made for them:

I recently saw a video of Bill O’Reilly condescendingly respond to a viewer’s question about the moon and the tide. Though I can’t tell exactly what O’Reilly believes, I can tell that whoever disagrees with him is a desperate pinhead. The video is so smug and proud of it’s anti-intellectualism that it begs the question whether Bill O’Reilly is some sort of savant — eerily able to connect on an emotional level while covering up a crippling level of mental retardation. I’d like to say that it is not his belief in a higher-power that I find problematic, but the dismissive arrogance with which he willfully ignores information he should’ve learned in 9th grade Earth science or can be easily found on Wikipedia (admittedly crowd-sourced, but often accurate).

Two side notes: obviously, I think it would be terrible if a hostile alien race came to Earth. However, one of the only pluses would be if a photograph could be taken of Bill O’Reilly at that moment, just to finally see a chip in his cocksure worldview. Secondly, a fun way to watch his video is to pretend he’s a militant Jihadist, just sharing his thoughts about the moon. Below is Bill O’Reilly’s video:

Writing is a very popular art form that dates back as far as any living person can remember (somewhere in the late 1890s). There are still a handful of devoted souls who practice this dying art. Of course to most people, no authors come to mind — since this art form is in its last months. Radio may have killed the video star, but web video and micro-blogging have killed the publishing star. Still, one man survives and rises above the fray — Wesley Stace. Below, enjoy my interview with him:

Many years ago when I was touring with Stella and opening for them, a few college kids sent me several mean emails asking me to not open for them in New Haven, CT. This is what happened at the show that they asked me not to perform at.

Here’s a little promo for Comedy Exchange, a show where British comic Phill Jupitus and me (American comic Eugene Mirman) swap places and careers. He performs in weird little places in Brooklyn, while I perform in London and Edinburgh. I talk about pedophiles on the radio and he mentions Cape Cod. That sort of thing. Here’s a little trailer for it:

Unlike it’s competitors, USA Network has finally come out against racism. TNT, you may know drama — but you don’t know how to brand yourself as the world’s first official non-prejudice cable network. Same with you, Cartoon Network and Korea TV — you dropped the ball. Some of you who watch a lot of Law and Order (like me) might have seen the following ad over and over again for USA Network’s Characters Unite campaign. Though I understand where they were coming from, the ad was missing something: me. So I added myself.

I will be in Copenhagen from December 9th to the 19th covering the climate change conference (in a charmingly unruly, balls-out way) for Grist.org. Here’s a little promo video I made:

Two days ago I arrived in Copenhagen for the COP15. I’m covering the conference for Grist.org. It’s a very beautiful (and expensive — hot dogs are $1600!) city that has been flooded with delegates, lobbyists, journalists, activists and an assortment of oddballs and kooks. I’ve spent the last few days exploring and adjusting from jet lag (Copenhagen is 30 hours ahead of New York). Here’s a video of my first day here:

I’ll be posting videos over the next week and a half from Copenhagen and the COP15. I still haven’t seen any Vikings, but I also haven’t stumbled through a time-travel-hole — YET!

Bella Center in Copenhagen (COP15)

A few days ago thousands of people (journalists, business folks, NGO reps, etc) were denied access to the Bella Center, where all the negotiations are happening. Much of what’s in the Bella Center (along with the negotiations that few are allowed near) is a trade show, mediocre open-faced sandwiches and people looking for a story that is not always there. I went to the Bella Center and made a little video of my experience. I met a man in a bear suit, gave a presentation to an empty room, and found the unmanned booth of the “United States” and and answered people’s questions about US climate policy. Here’s the video:

Dong Energy in Copenhagen (COP15)

Here’s my latest video from Copenhagen about Dong Energy and the Climate Pirates (Germans who came to Copenhagen on sailboats to at first protest Dong Energy, but ended up giving them a windmill as a thank you for not opening a coal plant near their homes):

Goodbye Copenhagen. Goodbye, Bing Bong.

Here’s my final video from the COP15 in Copenhagen:

Protest in Copenhagen (COP15)

Here’s my video from the protests this weekend. They were actually very nice and peaceful, but of course, full of kooky folks as well as families with nice haircuts. Warning: this video contains a cute dog, a man with dreads, and a yelling lady.